In systems that employ a cable, and particularly those that employ a plurality of cables running along a similar pathway, it is often desirable to provide tubing or a sleeve to surround the cables. A sleeve may provide protection to the cables running through the sleeve. In addition, surrounding a plurality of cables with the sleeve may provide for increased organization of the system, for example by keeping each of the plurality cables within a volume bounded by the sleeve.
One type of sleeve that may be positioned over cables in a system is a split sleeve. Generally, a split sleeve is a sleeve with an opening (or “split”) positioned along the longitudinal axis of the sleeve. This allows for the split sleeve to be wrapped around the cables, which may be more desirable than passing the cables through an open terminal end of the sleeve. For example, in some systems, it is preferable to position the cables within the sleeve only after the cables have been connected to their respective components. Using the split sleeve also allows for the cables to be easily removed from the split sleeve in case maintenance or replacement of the cables is required.
However, in order to maintain these and other benefits of positioning the cables within the sleeve, it is preferable that the cables remain securely positioned within the sleeve and do not exit through the longitudinal opening in the split sleeve. To keep the cables secured within the split sleeve, the split sleeve may be formed of a material that is configured such that opposing longitudinally extending sides have a bias so as to tend to move toward and roll up on each other in the absence of externally applied forces. With this configuration, once the split sleeve is wrapped around the cables, the sides of the sleeve will roll up on each other, effectively “closing” the longitudinal opening, and secure the cables therein with little chance that one or more cables may unintentionally exit the sleeve through the longitudinal opening. However, because the sides of the split sleeve tend to roll up on each other in the absence of externally applied forces, it may be difficult to quickly insert the cables into the split sleeve through the longitudinal opening. Thus, it would be desirable for a tool to facilitate the rapid and reliable insertion of one or more cables into a split sleeve.